Power management system for a 2.5 W remote sensor powered by a sediment microbial fuel cell

Abstract

One of the challenges in using wireless sensors that require high power to monitor the environment is finding a renewable power source that can produce enough power. Sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) are considered an alternative renewable power source for remote monitoring, but current research on SMFCs has demonstrated that they can only produce several to tens of mW of continuous power. This limits the use of SMFCs as an alternative renewable remote power source to mW-level power. Such low power is only enough to operate a low-power sensors. However, there are many remote sensors that require higher power, on the order of watts. Current technology using a SMFC to power a remote sensor requiring watts-level intermittent power is limited because of limitations of power management technology. Our goal was to develop a power management system (PMS) that enables a SMFC to operate a remote sensor consuming 2.5 W of power. We designed a custom PMS to store microbial energy in capacitors and use the stored energy in short bursts. Our results demonstrate that SMFCs can be a viable alternative renewable power source for remote sensors requiring high power.